Thermal processing torches, such as plasma arc torches, are widely used in the heating, cutting, gouging and marking of materials. A plasma arc torch generally includes an electrode, a nozzle having a central exit orifice mounted within a torch body, electrical connections, passages for cooling, and passages for arc control fluids (e.g., plasma gas). A swirl ring can be employed to control fluid flow patterns in the plasma chamber formed between the electrode and the nozzle. In some torches, a retaining cap is used to maintain the nozzle and/or swirl ring in the plasma arc torch. In operation, the torch produces a plasma arc, which is a constricted jet of an ionized gas with high temperature and sufficient momentum to assist with removal of molten metal.
Each consumable for a plasma arc torch is usually made from a single piece of bar stock, which can produce a large amount of material waste during the machining process if the consumable has varying diameters/cross-sections, thus requiring the bar stock to have a diameter of at least the largest diameter/cross-section of the consumable in many cases. In addition, certain new designs of consumables, including consumables with elongated dimensions, produce an increasing amount of waste if manufactured from a single piece of bar stock, in addition to being time consuming to make. Therefore, it would be desirable to reduce the amount of material and time used to manufacture consumables without comprising consumable functionality.